Tibor Schlosser, director for strategy at the National Highway Company (NDS), refuted allegations that the international public tender for electronic highway toll collection was canceled because of an information leak in the tender documentation. In an interview with SITA, he reacted to a story published by the Internet portal www.idoprava.sk. This web site stated that according to unofficial information the reason behind the cancellation of the tender was an information leak of the tender documentation, and not the officially stated intention to improve transparency of the tender.
"It is not true. It is nonsense," said Mr. Schlosser. He argues that the tender documentation has not even been finished. According to him, nobody could gain access to the complex documentation as it is divided into parts.
The web site also claimed that some bidders received the documentation sooner than others and that, motivated by doubts about the integrity of the tender, the NDS preferred to cancel the tender and announce a new one. The web site stated that with this measure, the NDS in fact saved several months that might have been wasted on doubts about the process and culminated in having to halt the public tender.
The terms of the public tender to select a supplier and operator of an electronic highway toll collection system were published in the EU official bulletin on July 19. The tender concerns the construction and operation of an electronic toll collection system for vehicles over 3.5 tons on a network of 2,435 km of road in Slovakia. The NDS set the estimated value of the order at SKK 20 billion without VAT. The winning company is to have a 14-year contract, and is to build the system within one year and operate it for 13 years, from the beginning of 2009. Moreover, the contract option makes it possible to prolong the contract with the future tender winner by an additional five years.
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